02: Electric Rhapsody
by Silent Elegy
Summary: A week after the events in Pandora's Box, a new rock band takes Amity Park by storm and a series of power shortages threatens the peace. Could Danny's ghostly new friend be to blame?
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: Danny Phantom and all related characters are the product of Butch Hartman and Nickelodeon studios. Kat and related characters are the product Silent Elegy.

* * *

The Ghost Zone, normally a quiet place, was unusually vociferous with the sounds of screaming and chants of "Ember! Ember!" 

"Tell me who you love!" the supernatural rock star yelled into her microphone. In answer, the chanting grew louder. So loud was the noise, in fact, that they almost couldn't hear Sheriff Walker of the Ghost Zone Police yelling over his megaphone.

"All right, people! This is the GZPD! We have you surrounded! Put your arms, or arm substitutes, up! Repeat! We have you surrounded!"

Naturally enough, everyone scattered. Ember rolled her eyes as she abandoned her microphone; yet another concert ruined by the constant presence of Sheriff Walker. She much preferred it in the real world, where the authorities couldn't stop her as long as she performed in certain areas like concert halls or record stores. She preferred concert halls, anyway. They had proper stages, with proper sound systems. Here in the Ghost Zone, she was mainly left with whatever she could dredge up.

She ducked past a ghost cop and strummed a chord on her guitar, both her instrument and weapon of choice. The chord became a powerful attack that knocked two more cops aside and allowed her time to escape through the first floating door she saw. She slammed it shut and leaned against it for some time before looking around to see whose lair she had invaded.

It almost looked like a doctor's office, she thought. It was mostly shades of pale grey; the walls and floor could have been made of metal, or simply made to look like metal. There were tables all over with a myriad of lab equipment strewn about. Other doors informed her that the lair was more than just this room.

She put her ear to the door; she could still hear Walker on his megaphone. With a muffled curse, she wandered into the lab proper. It wasn't that she was interested; simply that she had nothing better to do.

"Hey!" yelled an obnoxiously nasal voice. "You…little punk! What are you doing in here?"

"Ah, cheese off, gramps!" Ember yelled back, turning to see that the owner of this lair was Technus, the self-titled Master of all things technological. "As soon as those boneheads out there stop looking for me, I'm gone."

"Or, you're gone now!" Technus replied. He floated around to get a clear shot at Ember without damaging his precious equipment.

"Oh, come on, man," Ember rolled her eyes. "Don't make me go back out there! I'll get caught by Walker!"

"Eh?" Technus relaxed marginally. "Oh, well, that's different. Just don't touch anything."

Ember made a disgusted noise. "Like I'd want to. Man, the real world's a lot nicer than this junk heap." She plucked a few strings on her guitar in boredom.

"Hear, hear! If it weren't that…" He paused to think of a "hip" insult. "…blockheaded ghost boy, I'd practically own that world." He failed to realize that Ember had been talking about his lair, not the Ghost Zone.

She decided not to enlighten him. "Or I would! Someone really needs to knock that dipstick down a few pegs."

They both fell silent with pent-up rage at their mutual enemy, the half ghost Danny Phantom. Suddenly, Technus grinned. "Hey! I got it!"

Ember looked at him suspiciously. "Got what?"

"A plan! With my brains and absolute control over machinery, and your ability to hypnotize people, I could rule the world."

"You mean I could!"

They glared at each other for several seconds, then Technus shrugged dismissively. "Well, we'll figure that out after we destroy Danny Phantom."

Ember thought about that for a moment. "You know," she laughed. "I like the way you think, gramps. Let's do it!"

* * *

A/N: Thanks, Faith! I can't believe I did that... 


	2. Chapter One

Every year at Casper High, the theater club held a musical. This year, in response to all the ghost sightings and attacks, they had decided to perform Phantom of the Opera. Two friends sat in the very back of the auditorium watching the rehearsals, ostensibly to support their other friend.

"Think of me…" sang the female lead in the character of Christine. "Think of me fondly…When we've said-"

The song cut off abruptly as a sandbag fell inches from the girl's face to hit the stage with a resounding bang. She didn't even flinch, an astounding feat achieved simply because she was too startled to jump. Not that she would have admitted that. Instead, she crossed her eyes and heaved a long-suffering sigh as the entire cast broke into applause.

"Thank you, Danny!" she called dryly with baleful glare at the catwalk.

Danny Fenton cringed and smiled apologetically. "Sorry!"

He was still amazed that Kat had talked him into this. One of the stage hands had quit on the grounds that the auditorium was haunted, which, to be honest, it was. The chemistry wiz turned thespian Katrina Cadwell often moonlighted as the technology-loving opera ghost Electra. Not a very original name, but she liked it.

"Okay," the theater director said. "Why don't we just go ahead and call it a day?"

Danny slid down the ladder and waved to Kat, then trotted over to join his friends, goth girl Sam Manson, and techno geek Tucker Foley. "Nicely done, man," Tucker laughed.

"Did you see the look on the Kat's face?" Sam snickered. "I though she was going to kill you."

Danny sighed. "Oh, she got me back." He brushed the metal door knob and flinched as he got shocked for a second time. "You guys might want to walk a little further away until the charge wears off."

His two friends obligingly took a few steps back and followed him to his locker. "So we didn't get to hear," Sam began. "Why is the auditorium haunted?"

"Because every time the kid who's playing the Phantom comes on, weird things start happening." Distracted, he reached out to open his locker and jerked back once again as the metal conductor reacted to the electricity coursing through his body. He gratefully stepped back to let Tucker open it for him as he continued. "Things like lights flickering or the audio system running on its own…"

"In other words," Tucker interrupted. "Kat's acting up because they wouldn't give her the part."

"Yeah, pretty much."

They fell silent to reflect on their eccentric friend's abnormalities. She reacted to a new computer the same way most girls reacted to high school football all-star Dash Baxter. She was none to be rivaled at chemistry, but she made worse grades in math than Danny. And while science was her best subject, her passion was theater. Then, there was her alter ego.

As Electra, she dressed like a gentleman from the eighteen hundreds and haunted karaoke bars and record stores. She could hurl cars with her mind, but she couldn't fly for more than a few minutes at a time, and then not very quickly. Her powers were clearly ghostly in nature, but she never set off Danny's ghost sense, leaving her new friends to wonder if she was a ghost, a half ghost, or something else entirely.

Danny sighed and shook his head as he carefully and gratefully took his books from Tucker. "Well, I got to get home. Mom was expecting me about twenty minutes ago."

"It's not your fault rehearsal ran late," Sam pointed out.

"Yeah, I know. But still…I'm late for curfew enough as it is." They said their goodbyes and parted company: Sam and Tucker to go through the door, and Danny to go through the ceiling. He turned into his own alter ego, the white-haired ghost boy Danny Phantom, and shot straight through the building and into the sky above. He did not want to be any later getting home than he already was, and flying was the fastest way to get there.

As he flew, he kept a keen eye out for any escapees from the Ghost Zone. It was his self-imposed mission to keep Amity Park ghost free, a goal that had as many drawbacks as benefits. He was a hero, or something like it, but no one knew it. His own parents thought he was unreliable and, at times, lazy. And the worst part was he couldn't tell them the truth. They were ghost hunters, and while he was sure they would love him no matter what, part of him was afraid.

Still, it was very rewarding to be able to save the city from things like an enraged fire spirit bent on destroying the world. Barely a week ago was he given the pleasure of meeting just such a ghost. Pandora, the wish-granting ifreet, had manipulated him into freeing her, whereupon she had reduced half the city to burning rubble in a misguided attempt to save the world from the evils of humanity. Danny had just barely managed to defeat her by showing her that there was still some good left in the world. Faced with her own foolishness, she had convinced Clockwork to reset time back to before Danny had found her. He had not heard from her since.

Actually, he kind of missed having her around. She had kept all the other ghosts away. He swooped down to take care of a relatively weak snake ghost that was debating whether to menace some kids or bask in the setting sun. It didn't even notice him until it found itself sucked into the Fenton Thermos. Danny waved to a group of girls that started screaming gleefully and demanding that he take them with him.

Oh, yes. It certainly was a shame he couldn't tell anyone who he really was. Girls would be all over him.

He sighed as he found an unobserved location to change back into a human. Walking into his house was often a hazardous affair, and today was no exception. The second he stepped foot over the threshold, a loud siren began to sound.

"Ghost!" his father Jack yelled, and came charging into view with the Fenton Ghost Weasel, Maddie hot on his heels with the Ghost Bazooka. They looked around frantically. "Danny! Did you see the ghost?"

"Um…um…no?" Danny answered in a state bordering on panic.

After a moment, his parents sighed dejectedly and Maddie went to turn off the alarm. "I thought for sure we had it fixed that time…" she muttered. "So, Danny, where've you been?"

"Rehearsal ran late," he apologized. He didn't quite succeed in hiding the relief in his voice, but his parents didn't seem to notice.

"Well, dinner will be ready soon, so go work on your homework."

Danny made an exasperated noise, but complied. It wouldn't do to argue while his parents were holding the Fenton Ghost Finder. If they noticed it was targeting him right after he set off the new ghost alarm, he'd be stuck in the Ghost Zone before he could say "Boo." At least, he wasn't grounded for being late.

"Welcome home!" Jazz called as he dashed past her door. "By the way, Mom and Dad are testing the Fenton Ghost Security System."

"Gee, thanks for the warning," Danny responded sarcastically. His sister seemed to find no end of amusement to the fact that all their parents inventions responded to Danny's presence.

By the time dinner was ready, he had given up on biology and was simply listening to his music as loudly as possible. It didn't help much to drown out the squealing of the GSS.

* * *

Danny yawned and tried to keep his eyes open. First period was always the worst; he had the most boring teacher in the school. The Ben Stein monotone lectures always made it difficult to stay awake, and after a night of ghost hunting, it was even harder. He propped his head on his fist and didn't even bother trying to pay attention. 

He yawned again and thought about how great it would be to get out of class. As if on cue, the lights went out. Suddenly wide awake, he sat straight up and looked around. Pandora was gone; he knew she was gone, but the timing was just perfect. Still, it wasn't her style. She had granted wishes by burning things up, not turning off the lights.

"All right, just stay calm, kids," the teacher intoned, pointedly ignoring his students' continued lack of interest. "I'm sure the power will be back on shortly." Since the window provided enough light to see, he resumed his lecture, and Danny resumed falling asleep. It was probably just a normal power outage.

An hour later, someone knocked on the door, and the teacher went out to find out what was going on. "Dude!" someone yelled from the back. "We were, like, supposed to be out of here ten minutes ago!"

"The power's out, stupid!" someone else informed him. "That means the bell isn't working. Duh."

"That doesn't mean we got to stay late!" responded the first kid.

"It does if no one's watching the clock."

"All right, class," droned the teacher as he came back into the room. "Apparently the power outage is city wide, and it will not be back on for the next several hours. Therefore, you are all dismissed to go home."

A cheer went up, and the entire class was gone as if teleported away by magic. Danny, the last to leave, caught up with Sam coming out of her first class across the hall. "I wish they'd canceled school an hour ago," he said. "I still had to sit through that stupid lecture."

"What was it about?" Sam laughed.

Danny shrugged. "I don't know. I was asleep for most of it."

"Hey, guys!" Tucker yelled, running up to join them.

"You're in a good mood," Sam noted.

"History test was canceled because we couldn't see to take it," he said happily. "So you guys want to go do something?"

"Do what? The whole town is blacked out."

Danny yawned again, and Tucker broke off whatever he was going to say in favor of, "Tired?"

"Oh, man…" he sighed. "Okay, first, I was up past midnight trying to catch Johnny 13, which I finally did do. But then, my parents woke me bright and early this morning testing the new Ghost Security System."

"Ghost Security System?" Sam repeated dubiously.

Danny nodded. "It goes off whenever there's a ghost in the house, which means…"

"It goes off every time they turn it on," she finished.

"Pretty much. So I intend to take full advantage of this blackout to get some sleep. See you, guys."

* * *

Danny awoke to his alarm clock flashing 12:00 and almost went back to sleep. However, after several minutes of simply laying there, he groaned miserably and rolled out of bed. He was mildly surprised to see that no one was home, but a note on the fridge informed him that his parents were out buying parts. Relieved that they wouldn't be working on the GSS for a while longer, he made a sandwich and went to the living room to watch TV. 

"Over a hundred channels, and nothing to watch," he muttered as he cycled through the various stations. He paused at an ad for a new band called Soul Fire. The lead singer looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn't place her right off. There was a cartoon about teenaged spy girls, which he watched just long enough to reflect on how stupid it was before moving on. He wound up watching the last ten minutes of an old Star Trek episode before flipping it over to the news to check for ghost attacks; he was just bored enough that he would have welcomed the change of pace.

After a short commentary entitled "Danny Phantom: Savior or Menace," they brought up the main story. "I should get more screen time than that," Danny informed the newscaster.

"And for today's top story, we go live to the Amity Park Power Station. Casey?"

The scene switched to a view of reporter Casey Starr standing outside the power plant. "Thanks, Shellie. As you can see behind me, things are still pretty hectic right now." In fact, there was very little activity going on in the background. "Apparently, today's city wide blackout was due to a sudden power drain. Authorities still don't know what caused it."

The scene switched back to the newsroom where the anchorwoman was conversing with someone out of frame. She said something, nodded once, then turned back to the camera. "Well, this just in. The station has anonymously received some security footage taken a matter of minutes before the blackout."

A few seconds went by before it played, and Danny gasped. The image was fuzzy, and it was in black and white, but it undeniably showed someone in a black top hat wearing an eighteen hundred's style long coat. Sandwich and broadcast forgotten, he threw himself over the back of the couch and ran for the phone.


	3. Chapter Two

"So you guys didn't watch the news, I take it?" Danny said as he joined his friends at a picnic table in the park.

"You watch the news?" Tucker asked skeptically.

"What?" Danny demanded. "I like to know what the town thinks of me. What are you doing?"

"Just sitting here listening to this new band on Tucker's PDA," Sam answered. "They're pretty good. Wanna listen?"

Danny shook his head. "Guys, I think Kat caused the blackout." He paused while his two friends exchanged glances. "It was on the news. Someone sent in a security tape, and I swear it was Kat."

"Are you sure it wasn't just someone who looked like her?" Tucker asked hopefully. Kat was the only girl he knew who actually thought techno geek was the epitome of cool, and he fully intended to ask her to the next dance.

"Tucker, how many people do you know that dress like they just walked out of two hundred years ago? And while we're on the subject, when's the last time either of you saw her outside of rehearsal?"

Acquiring a slightly perplexed expression, Sam asked, "Danny, what are you thinking of?"

The ghost boy shook his head again and huffed. "I don't know. All I know is that there's something off about her. I've seen her as Electra plenty of times, but I only see her as Kat at rehearsal. I've never noticed her at school. Does she even go to school?"

"Maybe she home schools," Tucker ventured.

"Except then, they wouldn't have let her in the theater club," Sam interrupted Danny, about to say the same thing.

"But if she's a full ghost, she might be able to fool them. Except then, why can't I sense her?"

The three friends fell into a slightly disturbed silence. Kat seemed nice enough, even trustworthy. But they didn't really know anything about her save that she was Technus' daughter, and she considered herself to be a gremlin, or electric ghost.

It was Tucker who finally broke the uneasy silence. "Maybe it was just a prank. You know how much she loves to torment people."

Danny took a few seconds to reply. "Yeah, maybe you're right. Maybe I'm just overreacting."

A few more minutes of silence later, Sam spoke. "Well, since the power's back on, do you guys want to see if the Googleplex is open?" Jumping at the chance to change the subject, the two boys agreed.

* * *

Danny sat on a catwalk with his legs dangling over the edge as he watched the performance below. Sam and Tucker had eschewed from joining him on the grounds that they would rather listen to Soul Fire on Sam's new stereo. He couldn't help but notice that Kat seemed on edge as she rehearsed the musical's title song with Rick, the unfortunate boy who got the part of Phantom. He was now the subject of Kat's own brand of malice, which meant that almost every time he opened his mouth, the auditorium's sound system started blasting feedback. Tonight, however, she seemed too distracted to torment the boy. 

"Cut, cut, cut!" the theater director yelled, causing everyone to jump. "Miss Cadwell, have you ever heard of self-fulfilling prophecy?"

Although Danny was unable to see Kat's expression, he could just imagine the eye roll. "Well, I was right, wasn't I?" she asked insolently. "Peg's sick, which means we have no Carlotta. One of our ballerinas broke her leg, and the band can't be here because they have a gig."

"Peg has been on the verge of illness for several days, now," the director refuted. "We have known about the band for a month. And Kelly's leg is nothing but a tragic coincidence that hardly interrupts the proceedings. Now, if you don't mind, get with it!"

There was a very long, almost dangerous silence. Then the director called for a ten minute break, and the moment was gone. Danny stood and slid down the ladder. "Hey, Kat. What's wrong?"

She looked around a bit nervously before answering. "That blackout. It's a bad sign. I can't believe things are going this well tonight. Something bad's about to happen…"

"Don't mind her," said a ballerina, earning an irate glare. "She's just superstitious."

"The power's been flickering since it came back on," Kat went on in a much lower voice. She led Danny to the edge of the stage where no one would overhear. "I know you can't see it, but it's a like a fog horn to me. It's like something's draining the power."

"Actually," Danny interrupted her. "I kind of wanted to talk to you about that. Will you be here tonight?"

"When am I not?" Kat asked ironically.

* * *

The night was crisp and clear. The multitude of stars shined down enough light to more than make up for the lack of a moon. The city streets were quiet and still, unusual for Amity Park. It was nights like this that made Danny glad he could fly. He closed his eyes to enjoy the exhilarating feeling of gliding, unaided, through the atmosphere. But he was out this late for a reason and couldn't be distracted for long. 

He became intangible to fly down through the roof of the auditorium and hovered near the ceiling to listen to the mournful sound of an invisible siren singing _Music of the Night_. He flew closer to the stage until Kat faded into view and wondered, not for the first time, why she would waste power on an effect like that when no one was around to be impressed. He had asked her once; she had simply smiled slyly and asked why he overshadowed people even though no one knew he was doing it.

She sang the last note, then looked at him. "To what do I owe the pleasure, _Signore _Phantom?"

Danny had thought about how to handle this, and he still wasn't sure. Kat was his friend, or so he thought. And if she had simply been playing a prank, she needed to know that it had gone a bit too far. On the other hand, she was her father's daughter… "Kat, I need to know…were you involved in the blackout?"

She shook her head. "Wasn't me, but thanks for the compliment. Normally, I can appreciate quality work, but not during the musical; its bad luck. I knew today was not going to go well…"

"So it was sabotage, like they said on the news?"

"You watch the news?" Danny folded his arms and glared. Kat sighed. "Well, I don't know about sabotage, but something's definitely draining the power. We're going to have another, probably around noon."

Danny thought for a moment, and decided not to mention that he had seen her on the security tape. If her prediction came true, he'd talk to her again.

* * *

A/N: Thanks, everyone. Ah, sweet reviews.I write for myself, but I live for these reviews. I just wanted to point something out here. Kat's comment about bad luck. I don't know how rampant it is now, but in days past, thespians, like sailors, were extremely superstitious. Especially the people playing the lead parts. 


	4. Chapter Three

The hot topic at school, naturally enough, was Soul Fire. Sam and Tucker had inflicted the band on Danny before school, and he failed to see what was so great about them. He was simply surprised Sam liked them so much; normally, the rebellious girl avoided mainstream fads at all costs. The two were mostly ignoring Danny at lunch as they discussed the upcoming concert, but he was too distracted to notice. Noon had come and gone, and the power was still up. Had Kat been wrong? Maybe she didn't have anything to do with it after all. Or was she just trying to fool him…?

Lunch ended with no problems. Back in class, Danny found himself paying more attention to the clock than the teacher, a fact that earned him a few minutes of ridicule. It was shortly after 1:00 that the lights began to flicker. Finally, around 2:30, they went out completely. There were several moments of silence before the class started cheering. Somehow, Danny could not share in the revelry.

"All right, students," Mr. Lancer said over the din. "I'm not foolish enough to expect you to stay quiet, but please stay in your seats and keep the noise to a minimum while I find out what's going on." Mere moments after he closed the door, someone produced a radio and started blasting Soul Fire's hit single, "Burn Him to the Ground." Danny groaned and dropped his head into his hands; this song was getting very old, very quickly.

"What's wrong, Fen-Tanya?" Dash yelled, laughing at his own wit. "The music too loud for the poor baby?"

Danny growled hatefully and squashed the desire to let his eyes turn green. In the semi-darkness, the glow would stick out like a beacon of light. After the Pandora incident, he had sworn never again to overshadow Dash for the sake of revenge. He was seriously considering breaking that vow when the door opened and Mr. Lancer came back in. The radio cut off abruptly, but not quickly enough.

Mr. Lancer looked at Danny, still in his seat. Then he looked at everyone else, quickly returning to theirs. "Well, Mr. Fenton," he said in that too-silky voice that meant someone had just seriously screwed up. "Since you are clearly the only one who made even the slightest effort to do as I said, you may go home. The rest of you can spend the next hour here with me in detention."

Danny couldn't help but shoot the enraged Dash a self-satisfied smirk on his way out. This was definitely a nice change of pace, even if it did mean he was going to be shoved in his locker more than usual tomorrow. He wound his way through the crowded halls to his locker and an idea struck. Maybe he could still catch whoever had drained the power. If nothing else, maybe he could find some clues. He shoved everything into his locker and ran as quickly as the press of bodies would allow to the bathroom. A blue flash of light later, and he was sky high and heading for the power station.

He scanned the ground for any sign of Electra's signature top hat; since she couldn't fly, she might be walking. Of course, she could also be traveling through the power lines, in which case he wouldn't find her.

The people looked like ants from up here, he thought. He was flying lower than usual, but everything was still so small on the ground. It struck him, not for the first time, how insane this all seemed. A matter of months ago, he had been a normal kid destined for a normal life after high school. Now, he was practically a super hero, flying high above everyone's heads. He laughed as someone caught sight of him and obligingly flew a little lower so everyone could point and/or scream.

The power station had just come into view when a voice shouted, "You're going down, ghost!" He barely had time to register the threat when something slammed into him hard enough to knock him to the distant ground.

He rubbed the back of his head and floated back into the air to see that his attacker was a young woman in a skin-tight red costume with matching hood. "Hey, Valerie," he greeted his quite human nemesis.

She seemed fazed enough to lower her ecto-grenade launcher slightly. "How do you know my name?"

He raised an eyebrow. "The whole town knows your name. Remember, your dad found out, and now everyone knows? Didn't he ban you from ghost hunting?"

She lifted the launcher again to aim at Danny's head. "Until I got my grades up, which I did! And now, you're going down!" She fired, and Danny went intangible and threw himself into the ground to come back up behind her.

"Oh, come on," he mock whined, and Valerie whirled to face him. "I said I was sorry about that whole destroying your jet sled thing."

"Heh, you're just lucky V…I mean, the guy who gave me this stuff was able to get me another one. Otherwise…" She trailed off as they both realized that if she hadn't gotten a new one, she wouldn't be here now. Instead of trying to recover the psychological advantage, she threw a few razor discs, forcing Danny to dive again.

He threw himself out of the ground directly beneath her and succeeded in knocking her from her sled. "By the way," he remarked. "It's Phantom. Not 'ghost'."

"I'll call you whatever I want to call you, ghost!" The young ghost hunter jumped to her feet and raised her arms to activate her wrist lasers.

"Look, I don't want to hurt you," Danny said as he dodged blasts and tried to figure out how to get her to leave.

"Guess the advantage is mine, then," Valerie replied. She stopped just long enough to reclaim her jet sled, then started chasing Danny with the sled's built-in laser beams.

He grumbled something unintelligible, then yelled, "I really don't have time for this right now!" He twisted around and fired a short, weak ectoplasmic energy blast at the sled, but Valerie was expecting it and quickly went higher.

"Well, make time!" She threw a few more razor discs and succeeded in slicing Danny's arm. He bit back a gasp of pain and dove into the ground again. "Hey!" Valerie yelled wrathfully. "No fair going intangible!"

"Since when do you play fair?"

The voice came from directly behind her, and she couldn't get turned quickly enough to block his punch. Fortunately, she was close enough to the ground that she wasn't injured when she hit it, although she did acquire a few bruised ribs and a new appreciation for aspirin. She cursed at having forgotten that he could be invisible, too.

"Oh! You're going to pay for that, ghost boy!" She grabbed both of her ecto-pistols and began firing quick shots at Danny, who dodged as best he could. She looked like a desperado with both arms out in front of her wielding duel weapons.

Danny could already tell he wasn't going to be able to avoid her forever; he was weakening. He thought she must have done something new to her razor discs because the place where he had been injured was starting to burn most painfully. He dropped to the ground and threw up his green, dome-shaped ecto-shield. He couldn't keep it up forever, but maybe for long enough.

"Look, Valerie," he called in a more-than-likely futile attempt to reason with her. "I'm not your enemy. I know that you think I am, but I'm really, really not."

Predictably enough, she yelled back, "Tell it to someone who cares!"

"How about me?" a new voice said. Danny lowered his shield as Valerie whirled around to face the new threat in the form of Electra in full garb, minus her half-mask but plus a copper cane. She twirled the cane like a baton and pointed its globe-like tip at Valerie. "Away from my comrade, lest I am forced to use force."

"A new ghost, huh?" Valerie asked scathingly. She was clearly making assumptions; either that, or she had a way to tell when even Danny couldn't. "Well, don't matter to me. I can take you both."

"I shall warn you once more, milady," Electra said in a low, dangerous tone. "Step back, or face the wrath of Electra, master of AC currents and galvanized copper!"

Danny slapped his forehead and chuckled mirthlessly. She was definitely her father's daughter.

"And just what are you going to do if I don't?" Valerie demanded, aiming her ecto-pistols.

"I wouldn't do that…" Danny warned her quietly.

Ignoring him, Valerie fired both pistols simultaneously. The shots were intercepted by a green shield that sprang to life directly in front of Electra's cane. "I would do this," she said ironically. Blue lighting arced from the tip of the cane to lightly shock Valerie, who jerked back in alarm. "And if you persisted, I would up the voltage. I suggest you go. Now!" The cane vanished in blue smoke; Electra gestured at the jet sled, which obediently maneuvered itself around in front of Valerie and floated there.

The confused and almost slightly scared girl looked from Electra, to her sled, around at Danny, and back to Electra. Deciding that discretion was the better part of valor, she wordlessly climbed onto the sled and took off.

And not a moment too soon. Danny finally lost the battle with the pain in his arm and collapsed to the ground. A ring of light appeared as his body tried to change back, but he managed to stay in ghost mode. He wasn't sure what would happen if he turned into a human with whatever was on those razor discs still in his bloodstream.

Ectoplasm-stream?

He pulled his hand away from the wound; at the sight of blood and ectoplasm, he decided it must be both.

"Boy, she got you but good, didn't she?" Kat remarked. She banished her disguise and kneeled down to look at his arm.

"Yeah…What are you doing out here?" He was almost afraid to hear the answer.

"I came to see if I could figure out what's draining the power," she answered, as Danny had a feeling she would. "It's about to make me insane. Maybe you should go human…"

"I'm considering it," he admitted. "But what if that makes it worse?"

She thought for a moment, then sighed. "Well, I may have a solution, but you're not going to like it."

"Do I have a choice?" Kat shrugged, then traced a glowing circle in the air with her hand. The inside went momentarily black before become a swirling green. "You can open portals to the Ghost Zone?" Danny asked with a sinking heart.

Kat shook her head. "Only to dad's lair, and then I have to get a permit from Walker if I want to leave it without getting arrested. Come on."

"Um, what if he's there?"

"Then he can just deal with it, can't he?" She dove through, trusting him to follow.

Danny hovered outside the portal in trepidation. As his transformation ring appeared again and tried to change him back, he decided to throw caution to winds and flew through after her.

"Oh, Daddy!" Kat was yelling. She looked around at Danny. "I guess he got arrested again. Come here and let's look at that arm."

His first look at the inside of Technus' lab-style lair would have been considerably more interesting were he not in such pain. He held still while Dr. Kat scraped some ecto-blood from his arm to look at under a microscope. "So, Technus get arrested a lot?"

"Eh, he was confined to the lab a few years ago. So every time he gets caught out of it, yeah."

"What did he do?"

Kat swiveled around to search through a drawer for something or other. "I'm not really sure. It had something to do with blowing something up, I know that." She raised a syringe and gave Danny a questioning glance. He hesitated a moment before nodding. He wanted to trust her; she had helped him defeat Pandora, although she didn't remember since it never actually happened. And she was always there to listen or give sisterly advice of a kind the entirely human Jazz would never be able to. She never volunteered information, but she never asked questions, either. She accepted completely him as he was, maybe because she was so strange as well.

"What are you?" he muttered as she drew a blood (ectoplasm?) sample from above the wound.

"Very, very complicated," she answered his rhetoric. She put the new sample on a slide and looked at it. "Okay, well, I don't know what this is, but it doesn't seem to be affecting your blood. You should be safe to change back." When he simply looked at her, she tilted her head and asked, "You do trust me, don't you?"

Danny sighed and changed back into a human. There was a brief moment when the burning throughout his body intensified dramatically, then it was gone. His arm still hurt where he'd been injured, but it didn't burn anymore. "Thanks," he said quietly.

Kat looked at him for a long time. "You don't trust me, do you?"

"No…yes…I don't know! I want to. But every time the power goes out, you're there!"

"Today was the first time I've been there in weeks," she loftily informed him.

"They caught you on the security camera, Kat!"

"Impossible! I don't f-" She abruptly broke off as though she hadn't meant to say so much.

Danny narrowed his eyes. "You don't what?"

"You should go," she answered coldly. "I'll see you at rehearsal."

He stared for a moment longer before returning through the still-open portal. It closed on his heels, which didn't surprise him in the slightest. He changed back into a ghost and decided to simply be grateful that it didn't hurt anymore as he flew back to the school for his stuff before heading home.


	5. Chapter Four

The power still was not on the next day, which meant that Danny was accidentally allowed to sleep in. He roamed downstairs around noon to say his goodbyes to his parents and sister before running off to enjoy the taste of freedom from bullying. The park was unusually active, so he simply kept walking. He was not even remotely in the mood to listen to Soul Fire yet again, and he could hear them playing at the park center's small stage.

It was a nice day, if slightly overcast. Perfect flying weather, but he didn't feel like meeting Valerie again. If she managed to hit him with another poisoned razor disc, and he accidentally changed back in front of her, he'd never get a moment's peace again.

The cemetery was deserted as he walked past it, and he stopped to remember a morning that never happened when he had met Electra for the second time. She had been leaning against one of the headstones, being her usual mysterious self. He wound his way past the graves; just because he couldn't see her didn't mean she wasn't there. However, while he found the stone she had been leaning against, the ghost girl was still nowhere in sight. Deciding that if she wanted to talk she could find him, he turned to go, and his breath caught in his throat.

"Katrina Andrea Technus," he read. "1979 to…" The date of death had apparently been chiseled away. "To our beloved Kitty KAT, who rests somewhere between the sun and the moon…"

_And the answer lies somewhere between the sun and the moon, but I'm not going to tell you where_, she had said when he unintentionally voiced his confusion that he couldn't sense her.

"Are you dead or not?" he asked quietly. "1979…"

He quickly grabbed his cell phone and dialed Tucker's number. At the lack of a response, he shut off the phone with a disgusted growl, changed into a ghost, and flew home. He decided not to bother with the front door; if the power was still out, he wouldn't be staying. In accordance with Murphy's Law, it was, which he discovered when he tried to turn on the lights. He hovered in his room and tried to think. How could someone be dead and alive at the same time?

He blinked and looked down at himself with a wry grin.

But that still didn't explain Kat. There had been a date of death on that stone; he could see the worn scratches left from its removal. And if she was born in 1979, there was no way she could only be fourteen. So if she died and was a ghost, why didn't she set off his ghost sense? And if she wasn't dead, why didn't she look older?

Danny ground his teeth. There were far too many questions, and far too few answers. He couldn't look on the internet for anything pertaining to her. Sam and Tucker were off enjoying Soul Fire's park concert, so he couldn't talk to them…

He grinned and went invisible to dive into the kitchen. His parents were gone again, but Jazz was still there, reading one of her psychology books by the light of the battery-powered Fenton Lantern. "Hey, Jazz," he said, fading back into view.

Jazz squealed and grabbed her heart. "Darn it, Danny! You scared the life out of me!"

"Sorry," he responded, not sorry at all. He went back into human mode and sat down across from her. "I just need someone to talk to."

Instantly, Jazz's whole demeanor changed to "concerned big sister". "What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing bad," he was quick to assure her. "I just have this friend, and I'm not sure if she's a ghost or not. I found her grave, but the death date was carved out of it. And I think she may be behind the blackouts, but I don't want to believe that. I want to trust her." He hunched over miserably and sighed.

Jazz smiled and moved around to put her hand over his. "Danny, sometimes you just have to go with your instincts. If you really feel that you want to trust her, then you should. And if it turns out that you can't, then at least you'll know for sure."

He thought about that for a while. He did want to trust Kat, but he had wanted to trust Pandora as well. Of course, Pandora had only been doing what she thought was right in her own twisted way… "Thanks, Jazz," he said sincerely.

She ruffled his hair and ignored the resulting green-eyed glower. "That's what big sisters are for."

* * *

The power stayed out until close to midnight, meaning that rehearsals were canceled. Although Danny went by the auditorium later, Kat wasn't there. She was absent, as well, from her preferred karaoke bars, and steadfastly refused to be at any of the city's record stores. Finally, Danny went by her favorite parking garage; still no sign. He hovered above the top level and stared down at the darkened streets. 

Kat was avoiding him; that much was painfully obvious. He didn't know her well enough to tell whether she had been angry or hurt when she sent him away, but he had a sinking feeling that it was the latter. Warring with that feeling, however, was the knowledge that she had been at the power station when both blackouts occurred. She was obviously close enough to her father to come and go as she pleased from his lair, but that didn't mean that she was evil.

Did it?

It occurred to him that she might be at her grave, but he decided not to check. He would simply trust her, and if she betrayed that trust…

Ghost, half-ghost, or not a ghost at all, he had a feeling she could still be sucked into the Fenton Thermos.

* * *

Danny picked at the tasteless cafeteria food and stared mournfully at his friends who had chosen to sit at a different table today. They were angry, and he wasn't sure why, but he suspected it had something to do with the class-wide detention from which he had been exempt. Any and all attempts to talk to them about it had resulted in stone-faced silence. 

He was not having a good day. Dash had taken special care to shove him into his locker between every class, and Sam and Tucker refused to let him out. This, of course, meant that he was forced to wait until everyone else went to class so that he could become intangible and escape, which further meant that he was late to every class.

He repressed a cold shudder. In his distracted misery, it took several seconds of watching his breath before he realized that his ghost sense was going off. He froze, then casually got up and walked into the deserted hall. After a cursory glance to confirm that no one was watching, he turned into Danny Phantom and dove invisibly back into the cafeteria to find the ghost.

As he drifted around above everyone's heads, the lights started to pulse and two of them exploded directly above the cool kids' table. He shouted and threw himself at popular girl Paulina to shield her from the sparks.

"Get off of me, you freak!" she shouted, fighting her way away from him.

Danny paused in astonishment. While Paulina despised him as a human, she adored him as a ghost to the point that she kept a shrine to him in her locker. His puzzlement was short-lived, however, as burning agony coursed through him in the form of an electric current from the two exploded lights. He dropped to his hands and knees on the floor, fighting to retain consciousness before he transformed back into a human in front of everybody. In a sudden burst of insight, he went intangible and fell through the floor into the blessedly empty boiler room. He was out cold before he even hit the floor.

* * *

His surroundings slowly swam into focus. He wondered why his room looked so strange, and why was his bed so hard? He pulled himself to a sitting position and looked around. 

"What…?" he began, then the day's events slammed into his brain with enough force to almost knock him out again. He put a hand on his head as meager defense against the growing migraine and stood weakly. Shaking slightly from the powerful shock, he made his way across the floor and practically crawled upstairs. Thinking was painful, but his brain seemed determined to do so anyway.

Exploding lights and electric jolts were two of Kat's main methods of attack. Kat was behind the blackouts. She was draining the power from city, and she…

"She's evil," he whispered, betrayed.

"Danny?" yelled the voice of his mother. He had never been so happy to hear her in his life. He didn't even bother to wonder what they were doing there, or care if anyone was around to see. He fell into her arms and sobbed from pain, both physical and emotional.

"What happened, son?" Jack asked once Danny had calmed down some. He very nearly blurted out the whole story beginning from all those months ago.

"A ghost…" he sniffled. That was true enough, at least.

Instead of the expected outburst, his parents merely exchanged a knowing look. "Did it hurt you, sweetie?"

He started to shake his head, but what was the point of denying being involved? They already knew. "It shocked me," he confessed. "Knocked me out, and I woke up in the basement."

Again with that knowing look. "When you didn't come home," Maddie started. "We knew something was wrong. We thought that ghost boy had kidnapped you."

He shook his head. "He saved my life." Well, that was true, too. If he hadn't been half-ghost and in ghost form when he got shocked, it probably would have killed him.

This time, the exchanged glance was puzzled incredulity, but they didn't press him further. Instead, after some argument about taking him to the hospital, they took him home. He spent the entire ride in a kind of numb disbelief. He had never been betrayed like that before. Once, Tucker had turned on him, but that was different. He had been under a spell and couldn't be held responsible for his actions.

Kat had no such excuse. He should never have trusted her; she was the daughter of one of his enemies, after all. They were probably at the lair now, laughing at his stupidity.

He was barely aware of his surroundings as his dad half carried him to his room. He stared up at the ceiling in an electroshock-induced daze and listened vaguely as his parents discussed forcing him to go to the hospital anyway. Finally, however, they left. In the darkness, a pair of angry green eyes suddenly began to glow.

* * *

A/N: Faded Hope: You know, I was thinking those two names sound familiar...It's possible I inadvertantly stole them from somewhere. But dang if I can think where...And as for your comments, _/grins evilly/_ I'm not telling. I will give you this, though. I myself only figured out what was going on with Kat this morning. She's a mystery even to me. 


	6. Chapter Five

Danny was unsure at exactly what point he fell asleep, but when he awoke, the sun was high in the sky, and the power had gone out.

Again.

He climbed out of bed and stretched, then ran downstairs to eat. There was no one home, which was fine with him. After a quick breakfast, he reverted to his ghost form and fled the house. He expected to find Sam and Tucker in the park, and was not disappointed. He truly could not understand what they liked about Soul Fire. The more he heard, the more painful it was to listen to.

He paused to hover and stare for a few minutes at his first glimpse of the band's setup. The humble little stage had been turned into a veritable outdoor amphitheater. Half a dozen speakers towered above the stage, and monitors displaying the lead singer from various angles were in ample abundance. The band's main theme seemed to be machinery and pyrotechnics; he wasn't even sure what half of those unidentified gadgets were for. They seemed to serve no purpose whatsoever, except to be decorative. High above center stage, the band name flashed in neon lights, while sparks flew everywhere just for the effect.

"Can anyone say, 'Over the top'?" Danny muttered in disgust. Fortunately, he wasn't here for the show. There were people everywhere, but their eyes were fixed on the stage. However, if he landed behind them, he would never get through to Sam and Tucker, who were close to the front. Granted, he could go intangible, but he would rather not do that around so many people. Finally, he went invisible and flew down to get their attention.

"Hey, guys, I need your help!" he said right next to their ears. They turned to look at each other, then continued around to look in the general direction of Danny's disembodied voice. They seemed angry. "Oh, come on, guys! You're not still mad about that detention, are you?"

The two exchanged glances again. With a hateful glare, Tucker pulled a Fenton Thermos out of his backpack and activated it. Danny was so startled that he almost didn't dodge it in time. He dove into the ground and came back up, visible again, behind them. "Tucker, Sam, it's me!" he exclaimed desperately.

Suddenly, someone nearby shouted, "It's the ghost kid!"

And farther back into the crowd, someone who sounded suspiciously like Paulina yelled, "Get him!"

"What?" Danny flew a few feet higher as the crowd surged forward. "Wait!" He lurched back as Tucker tried to capture him in the Fenton Thermos again. "What's going on?" he shouted in disbelief. Practically the entire town had turned against him. He dove slightly to avoid getting captured for a third time and shot over everyone's heads. At the edge of the park, he turned back for a moment to see that they were trying to follow, shouting things like "Destroy the ghost kid!" or "Burn him to the ground!"

With a groan of despair, he flew higher. It seemed like everyone around him had suddenly decided to betray him, and he couldn't figure out why. He couldn't go home, now; Sam and Tucker would be able to find him there. After some deliberation, he made his slow, depressed way to the clock tower and landed on the roof.

"First, Kat," he muttered. "And now this." He sighed heavily and dropped to the stone surface to wrap his arms around his knees. "What is going on? What did I do?" He dropped his head onto his arms. The answer was nothing; he had done nothing. Was it possible they thought he was behind the town's troubles? That would certainly explain everyone's sudden detestation.

He stood angrily and began to pace. That was completely ridiculous! Sam and Tucker, at least, should know him better than that. As his friends, even if they suspected that he was causing the blackouts, they should have given him the benefit of the doubt and a chance to explain. Instead, they were being completely unreasonable! It was almost like-

Danny gasped and stopped short in his pacing. Suddenly, it all made sense. The familiarity of the lead signer, the way her band had risen to the top so quickly, the fire-based theme, the fact that even Sam had become obsessed with the music even though Danny hated it…

The fact that everyone had suddenly turned against him…

Even the rhythm of their song sounded familiar, now that he thought about it. It sounded suspiciously like a song he had heard once before.

"Ember…" he growled. He threw himself from the roof and rushed back toward the park. Kat hadn't caused any real trouble yet; she could wait.

As if Danny needed any further proof that his pop rock-singing nemesis had brainwashed almost all the kids in town, he was treated to the tail end of her trademark song, "Remember" as he got closer. "Tell me who you love!" she yelled joyously.

"Not you!" Danny yelled back over the chanting.

Ember turned quickly and, with a malicious grin and a burst of blue flame, banished her disguise. "I was wondering how long it would take you to figure it out, dipstick!" she remarked.

Rather than respond, Danny charged fists first at the would-be Kiss imposter, who made no move to defend herself. He quickly realized all was not right, but was saved from having to figure out what could be wrong when a cable sprang to life, wrapped around his ankle, and slammed him backwards into the stage.

"Ha!" exclaimed the supremely annoying voice of Technus from a nearby speaker. "Weren't expecting that, were you, ghost child?"

"Ember…and Technus?" Danny muttered, astonished.

The two ghosts were "kind" enough to let him get to his feet before Ember played a chord that threw him to the ground again. Not one to fall for the same trick twice in a row, the ghost boy became intangible and sank below the stage. He heard Technus ask where he had gone; in answer, he erupted from the stage directly below Ember, knocking her into the air and sending her guitar flying. However, he was given no chance to press the attack as, with a metallic squeal of protest, one the display supports became animate and swung straight at his head. He shot skyward and succeeded in dodging the blow only to find himself bound by some kind of energy. Within a few panicked seconds, he was staring into the claustrophobic darkness of the Fenton Thermos.

"Tucker!" he yelled as he attempted to throw himself against the walls of his prison. "Sam!" He had no idea if they could even hear him. "Guys, snap out of it! I'm your friend!"

He went on in that vein for a long time. After a bit, he stopped wasting his breath and concentrated on trying to break free, but it was impossible to move. His parents had captured him in the Ghost Weasel once. To borrow Ember's description, it was like the Taj Mahal compared to the Fenton Thermos. At last, he gave up; maybe he could find his way back once they dumped him into the Ghost Zone.

They were going to, right?

Blind and deaf inside the Thermos, he had little sensation of anything going on outside. He thought it felt like he was being jostled around, but that could be contributed to any number of things, including an overactive imagination. He had just decided that the Thermos was cruel and unusual, and was beginning to panic from worry and claustrophobia, when he felt a bang and was forcibly shoved out into a swirling green nightmare-scape. Once he recovered his senses and balance, he whirled around and began blasting the door of the Ghost Portal.

"Well, well, well," said an entirely too satisfied voice. Danny did not want to turn around; some part of his mind insisted that if he ignored the voice, it would go away. There was a moment where childish instinct warred with logic, but he finally turned to look up into the wrathful-yet-amused eyes of Sheriff Walker. "Danny Phantom," Walker went on. "You're under arrest. Take him!"

"But I'm not a ghost!" Danny yelled uselessly. He shot twin energy blasts at the two cops who moved forward to apprehend him and flew straight up.

"Resisting arrest!" Walker called after him. "Assaulting an officer of the law! You're really racking up the centuries, punk! Keep it up, and you'll be spending the rest of eternity in my prison!"

"I don't belong here!" Danny argued. He fought off another cop and managed to find a clear avenue of escape.

"After him!" the sheriff ordered. "Don't let him get away this time!"

He glanced back just in time to avoid being caught by the energy restraints all of Walker's officers were equipped with. It was almost like they were expecting him, and he had a feeling they were. Ember and Technus knew he would come investigating the park, eventually; of course, they would have a plan for his capture. He cursed his stupidity at having walked right into a trap.

Floating doors zoomed past as he continued to evade arrest. He considered ducking through one, but he couldn't know what lay beyond and didn't have time to find out. He desperately dodged around, using the doors as meager cover while Walker continued to yell after him.

Suddenly, a door opened directly in front of him. He skidded to a stop and started to go around, but his hesitation allowed one of the cops to finally hit him with a restraint. He slammed into the open door head first and was treated to a dizzying view of green and silver until he was dumped unceremoniously onto a hard metal surface.

"That's aiding and abetting, Technus!" yelled Walker from outside the door.

"You're out of your jurisdiction, Sheriff," Kat yelled back. "I'm claiming sanctuary!"

There was a pause, followed by, "That's a lab, Miss Technus! Not a church!"

"I'm an ordained minister!" Kat shot back. "If I say it's a church, it's a church!"

There was a slightly longer pause, then, "A church is a place of worship!"

Danny turned human to break free, then turned ghost again and stood. "What's happening?" he asked.

"A wanted felon can claim sanctuary inside a place of worship," Kat replied before turning back to the door. "The rules say worship; they don't say of what!"

There was very long pause. Danny could just imagine Walker, frantically flipping through his rule book, trying to find a way around Kat's loophole. "Are you really an ordained minister?" he asked.

She grinned impishly and shook her head.

"Fine!" Walker interrupted. "What do you worship in there?"

"Science, of course!" Kat replied as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. Maybe it was.

Neither of them could quite hear what Walker grumbled, and that was probably for the best. They did hear him order six of his officers to stand guard around the perimeter. After several minutes of silence, Danny sighed. "Why are you helping me?"

Kat seemed perplexed. "Why wouldn't I? We're friends, aren't we?"

"Friends don't attack each other!"

"I would never attack you unprovoked, Phantom," Kat replied coldly. "I have given you no reason to mistrust me."

Danny laughed mirthlessly. "The school cafeteria, Miss Technus! You blew out two of the lights and electrocuted me!"

"I have not left this lab since I brought you here!"

"Then who attacked me, huh?"

Kat's eyes sparked angrily. "Do you honestly think I'm the only gremlin in the Ghost Zone? Any number of ghosts could have done that!"

"Name one!"

"My father!"

Danny stopped. He was getting that sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach again. Kat drew a glowing circle in the air between them. "Get out!"

"Kat, I-"

"GET OUT!"

"But your dad-"

"I know full well what's going on, ghost child," Kat said. "I figured it out this morning. I was going to help you. Now, you're on your own."

Danny hesitated the barest fraction of a second longer. "I'm sorry," he said quietly. Before she could respond, he flew through the mini-portal and into the alley by his house. "Darn it, Fenton," he chastised himself. "No wonder I don't have any friends…"

He shook his head; he could wallow in self-pity later. Right now, he needed to find some way to deal with Technus and Ember. He went invisible to dash into his house, pointless since there was still no one home. He hadn't seen them at the park, but he hadn't been looking, either. He sighed dejectedly as he realized that he couldn't even trust Jazz now. The only person he could trust, he had completely managed to alienate. He continued to berate himself as he dropped through the floor into his parent's lab.

There wasn't much there that he could use. The Ghost Catcher would be perfect for separating Technus from his host machinery, but it was far too impractical to carry. The Ghost Bazooka would be nice, but his mother had apparently taken it. He picked up a new Fenton Thermos and passed over the ever-tangled Ghost Fisher, the Ghost Weasel, the Ghost Grabbers…

Naming everything off like that, Danny chuckled. His dad sure had a one-track mind. Seeing that there was nothing else that could help him, he sighed and took off for the park again. This day was not going to end well.


	7. Chapter Six

**Chapter Six**

Ember stood proudly, basking in the glory of her accomplishment. Everyone was screaming her name. She didn't appear to notice as two of the monitors switched from live feed to Technus' grinning computerized visage until he quietly wrapped a cord around both of her legs and pulled. She landed hard on her stomach with a gasp of surprise and twisted around to glare at her laughing former ally.

"Oh, so that's how you want it?" she exclaimed. Using her guitar like a bat, she managed to fight her way free.

The whole stage came to life then, and the remaining monitors switched to Technus' face. "I, Technus, will rule this world!" he exclaimed. "And I won't let any…squares like you get in my way!"

High above the battle in progress, Danny howled with laughter and wondered if he should just let them finish each other off. It would certainly make his life easier. He watched as Technus aimed something that looked like a satellite dish and fired a beam of energy at Ember. Unfortunately, the attack missed and nearly hit the hypnotized bystanders. Danny sighed as he realized that he was going to have to interfere after all; neither of the ghost villains cared if people got hurt. "Hey, kids!" he yelled brightly. "Miss me?"

Ember and Technus stopped abruptly and exchanged glances. "Not for long, ghost child!" the latter responded with an accompanying energy blast. Danny easily dodged the attack as he hurtled toward his foes, as well as the second attack courtesy of Ember's guitar.

He raised both arms to fire ectoplasmic energy blasts at two of Technus' monitors. "How could you do it, Technus?" he yelled as he ducked beneath an oncoming support beam.

"Eh? Do what?" Technus seemed honestly confused. Not that it hurt his attack any. As Danny ducked, he angled the swing down and succeeded in knocking the ghost boy into Ember.

"Hey!" yelled the enraged singer. "Watch it!" She let her guitar hang from its strap around her shoulder and fired her own version of an energy blast at Danny, who dove below the stage. After all, it worked last time. As he threw himself out where Ember should have been, however, he crashed headlong into the band's neon sign. Stunned, he didn't even notice the guitar flying toward his face until it hit. Naturally enough, he was given no chance to recover as Technus bound his arms to his side with cords and cables and began slamming him into every intact surface and a few that weren't.

He wasn't entirely certain when the attack stopped, but suddenly Ember had a fistful of his hair to hold his head up. He blinked against the spinning world and tried simply to concentrate on not going human. "How could you frame your own daughter?" he asked vaguely.

"Oh, that?" Technus laughed. "That's easy!" The monitor nearest Danny changed to the same footage he had seen on the news. "Editing video isn't hard, at all."

"That's not what he meant, dad," said a voice Danny never expected to hear again. He shook his head to clear the last of the fuzz and started to wonder if he'd been hearing things. His musings were brought to a halt by the sudden appearance of a green VW Beetle as it flew by, taking out the cords holding Danny and nearly Ember as well.

"What the-" Ember started to demand.

She was interrupted by her once-again ally, who yelled, "Katrina Andrea Technus! You are so grounded for that, young lady!"

Electra, with two SUVs orbiting around her, twirled her copper can and replied, "I am Electra, master of lightning and electrical impulses!" She grinned smugly. "You ain't the boss of me, old man!"

Danny fought his way free of the remaining restraints. With Electra distracting her father, he was free to deal with Ember, making this fight a whole lot easier. He shot an energy blast at his enemy, who failed to dodge because she was watching a Ford Explorer smash through a neon sign. "Told you you wouldn't get away," Danny laughed.

Ember jumped to her feet with a furious growl. "You still can't beat me," she said scathingly. "Not with every kid in town chanting my name." She hit a chord, and Danny dodged while shooting energy blasts. She was right, of course; as long as the kids of Amity Park were chanting her name and giving her power, she had the advantage. He needed to figure out something that would stop the chanting, something really painful, like…

"Electra!" he yelled. "I need feedback!"

There was a pause while a Cadillac Escalade flew overhead, then, "Nice form, but your witty remarks need work!"

Danny squashed down the desire to abandon his fight with Ember in favor of throttling his friend. "From the speakers!" he clarified.

"Not even my offspring can hack into my system!" Technus took that moment for self-glorification. "For I am-"

The sudden squealing that brought a halt to his histrionics could have been considered an improvement. At least, it was more musical. Danny winced at the noise that would have made fingernails on a chalkboard sound pleasant, and easily captured the now powerless Ember in his Fenton Thermos. "You can stop now!" he tried to yell over the noise. It cut off abruptly.

"How did you do that?" Technus asked, bemused.

Electra pointed her cane at his last intact monitor and fried it, rendering him blind and forcing him to leave the safety of his electronic equipment. "Because," she answered haughtily. "I, Electra, am just that good! Now…" She grinned as Danny captured the protesting Technus. "You're grounded, Dad."

They glanced out over the newly awakened teens and watched them try to get their bearings. "Thanks, Kat," Danny said quietly.

"Eh, what are friends for?" she answered with a shrug.

"I can't believe he did that to you."

Kat shrugged again. "Well, he may be my dad, but he's still Technus."

"Danny Phantom!" someone yelled. They glanced over to see reporter Casey Starr arrive with an exhausted cameraman in tow. "Mr. Phantom, can you tell us anything about what happened here?"

Kat snickered and patted his shoulder; he was stunned at how cold it felt. "I believe that's your cue," she said happily. "Cheerio!" With a tip of her hat, she vanished in blue smoke, her usual manner of goodbye.

Danny sighed and looked back at the camera. Part of him insisted that he just go; instead, he began speaking. It couldn't hurt his reputation, and who could tell? Maybe it would help.

* * *

Danny flipped on the news later that evening. His family had come home a few hours earlier; apparently, his parents had been ghost hunting on the other side of town, and Jazz had been at the library. She started to walk by behind him, then stopped and leaned on the back of the couch. "You watch the news?" she asked.

"I do, sometimes," Danny defended himself. He wondered why everyone seemed so amazed by that.

"Since when?"

He rolled his eyes and shushed her as the "Exclusive Interview with Danny Phantom" came on. He thought, at first, that they had cut Kat out of the frame and didn't think too much of it, until he heard her parting words.

"Who was talking?" Jazz asked. "Was there someone else there?"

Danny shook his head slightly and started to laugh. "Her name is Electra," he replied. "She doesn't film."


	8. Epilogue

"You brought this on yourself, you know?"

Technus growled something that might have been concession and might have been denial.

Kat rolled her eyes and tapped on the ghost glass that separated her from her prison-bound father. "Don't go blaming Phantom for this, Dad. And don't blame Walker, either. It's your own fault you're stuck in here."

The Ghost Zone's premier techno villain laughed mirthlessly. "If it weren't for that ghost child, that world would be mine!"

"If it weren't for Phantom, you wouldn't even have access to it."

"Semantics." Technus waved the rebuttal off casually. "I would find a way, for I am Technus! Master of computerized circuitry! And you had better not touch my lab while I'm stuck in here, missy!"

"Too late, daddy-o," Kat said with an evil little grin. "I reorganized all your drawers so that now you can actually find things in them."

"What? Now, I'll never find anything!"

"Place needs a woman's touch. You should think about finding a nice wife who'll tolerate you better than mom did."

"Your mother," Technus began in that tone of voice he reserved only for Kat's mother. "Your mother…never approved of anything."

Kat groaned. "Oh, don't remind me. What you saw in her, I'll never know."

Technus muttered something that sounded like, "Your guess is as good as mine," and sighed.

A guard interrupted them then to tell Kat her time was up, and she stood. "So, dinner tomorrow?"

"Better make it next week," Technus answered, standing as well. "Walker's got more guards on me, this time."

Kat smiled brightly and tipped her hat. "Next week, then. Cheerio!"

* * *

Danny stared into the darkness, unable to sleep. He felt bad for mistrusting Kat, but he couldn't find her to tell her so. He rolled over and nearly shouted at the pair of glowing blue-white eyes that stared back. "Morning, sleeping beauty." 

"Kat?" he asked from his ghost mode.

"Who else?" A lamp spontaneously came on to reveal the ghost girl in normal clothes for once. It was strange to see considering her usual choice in fashion.

"I've been looking for you," Danny informed her after changing back. "Where've you been?"

"Oh, visiting Dad in jail. Again."

Danny raised an eyebrow. "He tried to frame you for those blackouts, and you still visit him in prison?"

"Of course," Kat replied as though he were being especially stupid. "He may be Technus, but he's still my dad. So, we are friends again, right?"

Danny looked down. "I should have trusted you," he began.

"Even though you had every reason not to? That was his plan, you know? Well, no, technically, I guess it was draining power for his setup, but making you chase after me was definitely in there somewhere." She smiled brightly. "I'm sure he would have announced that himself if he hadn't been busy dealing with us. Anyway, my temper sometimes gets the better of me. I won't apologize if you don't." She held out her hand; as Danny took it, he was once again shocked by the lack of warmth. She had never been that way before.

"Why are you so cold?" he felt compelled to ask.

Kat jerked her hand away, almost shameful. "Sorry. It's been a rough few days. The power fluctuations have thrown off my cohesion…" She trailed off and bit her lip.

Danny sighed. "Look, I trust you. Okay? I'm not going to make you tell me what's going on."

"Thanks, Phantom. That really means a lot. I'll tell you one of these days." She gave her usual goodbye and the light flickered out again. Danny smiled and lay back down. She was strange, and she was suspicious, but at least she was a friend.

* * *

A/N: And that's the story. Stay tuned tomorrow when Danny meets a pair of marids. _/insert realy cool action sequence here/_ Also while I explain it above, I'll make it more clear. Technus was draining power like he usually to power his host machinery. The fact that it caused a blackout was a pleasant little side effect that he decided to capitalize on to make Danny chase after Kat and distract him from what was actually going on. If you have any other clarifications I need to make, you can email me, or just review and I'll post the answers in my comments for Starcrossed. 


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